SpiderMan: Opening Night
by homel001
Summary: The first in a new planned series. Tony Stark opens his new tower but The Green Goblin plans on stealing his latest weapon. Meanwhile, Getting over the departure of MJ, Peter dates Betty Brant. Please R&R. Not my best story.
1. Chapter 1

"**Opening Night"**

**By Lee Homer**

**(homel001)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own spider-man. Marvel and now Disney does. I own rights to the story and this is for fan fiction purposes early. This is set in the early years of Peter Parker as Spider-Man. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Chapter One**

"Research is the way of the future. All the wonders of technology and science are here to serve mankind today. The city relies on it, scientists and professors thrive on it. Science is the key to the world's riches and fame. You see ladies and gentlemen, we live in an age where computers guide us and protect us during everyday life. My father, Howard Stark had dedicated his life to ensure this and today, I wish to continue on his legacy. I give you, the Stark Industries Tower, the central hub for our technology today. Thanks to my proud and noble sponsor, Norman Osborn, Stark Industries along with Oscorp will give this city the security it deserves."

"_And just like that, you've jinxed it." _Spider-Man thought as he perched himself above the busy crowd below. _"Nice one Stark. Now you're going to have to put your reputation on the line. No doubt about it, ol' Spidey will have to be the nanny."_

Firing a webline at the building opposite, Spider-Man swung off into the night skyline of New York City. As Peter Parker, he had a busy typical Monday morning. J. Jonah Jameson had him running all over the place chasing the Stark story which left the poor twenty year old college student wondering what was going to happen next. Swinging over the busy traffic, deep thoughts about the Stark building entered his mind. He always got thinking on the big things. They always led to theories.

"_Now Stark has his business booming, he's going to attract a lot of tech nuts." _He went on. _"I mean we have the Green Goblin out there, we have Doctor Octopus, Mysterio and even the sumo giant himself, The Kingpin. That's the big mistake for Stark; the city will never be safe. Sure they'll be a security shield over the city, but it's the trouble that lingers under it not over it."_

His mindless thoughts made him lose track of time as he approached the Daily Bugle. Before he decided to swing home, he wanted to drop of the pics for the evening edition. Luckily, he was going to see Joe Robinson, co-editor instead of the old biggard Jameson himself. Climbing through the air vent, he landed in the men's room and changed into his civilian clothes. It was now time for Peter Parker to wrap up the day. He was in there only half an hour when Betty Brant, Jameson's secretary approached him. Peter always admired Betty, but never had the courage to ask her out as he was never around long enough to ask. She always treated him as a person unlike Jameson and he took it personally. She was also stunningly beautiful.

"Hey Pete." She said as her smile warmed his body from the inside. "I see that you've dropped off the late edition. I'm glad I've found you. I eh was wondering if you wanted to do something sometime after work. Well would you?"

"W-well I-I'd love to, Betty." Peter replied, dropping his words in surprise. "Wow, it's been a while since I've been out with a girl, especially one as kind mannered as you."

He enjoyed flattering Betty, but the experienced was short lived with the departure of his child hood sweetheart, Mary Jane Watson. He could still remember the day he kissed her goodbye. He blamed himself for that day when MJ was nearly killed in a fire which was caused by an encounter with The Hobgoblin. Peter saved her as Spider-Man from the blaze, but the shock of the experience was enough to drive her away to Paris. Since then, his life had been empty without her and he hoped Betty would be the one to make him happy again. Betty knew that Peter was still suffering. She could see it in his eyes and she really felt sorry for him.

"It's okay to feel nervous." She assured him as she stroked him on the shoulder. "I don't bite honest."

Peter chucked at the joke as he turned to leave. He needed to get home and see his Aunt May, who had left on her own for some time now. He always worried about her ever since the death of his Uncle Ben.

"I'm free tomorrow if you want to go and grab a bite to eat sometime?" he said as he waited for the elevator. "Say seven?"

"That'll be great." Betty smiled as she waved Peter go by. She liked him but just like the 20 year old student, she was too shy to admit it.

Across the city in Forest Hills, Peter returned home to an empty bedroom which was shrouded in dim lighting. As he always did, he whipped off his spidey duds and crept across the wooden floor in hopes that his Aunt May wouldn't hear him. As far as he knew, the dear old lady was asleep in her armchair when he left.

Heading downstairs, he noticed that his faithful Aunt was in the kitchen making the dinner. Greeting her, he sat at the table and tucked into his Monday night usual. On the TV, Tony Stark was on the news headlines as he was being interviewed by the local news correspondent. Peter sneered at his smart dress sense as the billionaire showed off his expensive suit and styles in front of the camera. He had read Howard Starks work and Tony was certainly not like his dad.

"Oh isn't that Mr Stark a genius." May said, idolising the man. "He's going to change this city and I believe in him. If only that awful Spider-Man was like him. Then Mr Jameson would say nice stuff about him."

"He's doing it for the cameras." Peter replied as he played with his food. "Behind closed doors, he's just your average businessman who cares nothing but money."

"Now Peter don't say such things if you haven't met the man in person." May countered as she waved her finger. "What's the matter with you tonight? You've been down and depressed since this morning."

Peter didn't reply and hinted his aunt to look at the calendar which was hanging up on the wall. She then realised what was going on. It had been a year since MJ left their lives which proved to be too painful for her young nephew. Getting up, she placed her arms around her loving nephew and gave him a hug.

"I know it must be hard for you right now, but you must move on." She said. "What Mary Jane did was for the best. You both knew that she wouldn't be happy if she stayed here so you had to let her go. To tell you the truth, I am so proud of you. Only that of a selfish mind would force her to stay, but you knew what to do, you faced the problem and you let her go because you wanted her to be happy. You're going to find someone else soon Peter. You're the kindest boy I have ever known."

"Well maybe it is time that I moved on." Peter muttered as he looked up at his aunt. "I have a date tomorrow night with Betty Brant."

"That nice girl from the Bugle?" May asked with a smile. "That's great. I don't see why you're feeling that way?"

"MJ was like family, Aunt May." Peter replied. "That's what hurt me the most. Sure we had a connection, but I loved her like a sister that I never had more than the average girl next door romance thing. Surely you must understand?"

"I do." May smiled as she returned to her dinner. "And I'm sure she misses you too. Now eat up and try to look forward to your date with Miss Brant tomorrow. This is really a new start for you so don't mess it up with all this negativity."

Peter always admired his Aunt May. He always took her advice and he knew deep down that she was right. Taking a deep breath, he finished his dinner and headed upstairs for an early night. He was too tied to do what he would usually do. Just as he entered his bedroom, he was alerted to a message on his computer screen. Viewing it, he was surprised to see that it was an email from his best friend Harry Osborn. He was coming home in a week and he wanted Peter to meet him at the airport.

"_At least I have two things to look forward to now." _He thought as he lay back and slowly drifted off to sleep.

At the Osborn house, tensions were stirring in Norman Osborn's private chamber, two distinctive voices echoed throughout the dark halls of the manor. One was Norman's himself but the other was a cold, dark, evil voice that let out the most evil spine chilling laugh. Yet Norman was the only man present in the building. In fact he was talking to himself in his bedroom dress mirror. Norman Osborn had a split personality and his demon had finally caught up with him to taunt him. Amongst the self babbling and arguing, Osborn's demon made his intentions clear. He was The Green Goblin and he was going to raid the Stark Tower.

"Come on Osborn, I need you this time!" the Goblins voice shrieked. "I need a plasma weapon to make my glider invincible and Stark has just the technology that I need. With your knowledge, I'm going to get it whether you like it or not!"

"But Stark is a good friend of mine. You can't do this Goblin. Not now!" Norman begged as he broke out into a cold sweat. "Why not steal from the Kingpin! Do you know who Stark really is?"

"Shut up you petty cry-baby!" The Goblin chuckled. "The Kingpin is a tool and as for Stark, being in an Iron Man suit doesn't stop the Goblin! You don't have a choice in hell!"

Just then, the Goblin took full control of Norman's body, pushing his soul into the dark region of his conscious. Walking towards the bookshelf, he pulled back a book which acted as a lever, revealing a secret room. The room contained his Goblin suit along with his iron plated glider and an armoury full of pumpkin bombs. He suited up and then mounted the glider. The roof doors opened and with full speed, the Green Goblin shot upwards into the night's sky. His engines roared, causing him to soar threw the sky at incredible speed. His menacing laugh echoed through the night sky and his silhouette casted a shadow on the streets below.

"Watch out, Tony Stark!" he sneered. "You're going to make a Goblin very, very happy. Then once I have the weapon, the city will fall before the tyranny of the Green Goblin! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

As Peter sat there in his room, the phone began to ring which caught the young man's attention. It was Betty calling up for a chat. Just hearing her voice made Peter's heart thump. He really did like her a lot.

"It was nice of you to call me." He said as he lay back on his bed. "You truly are special you know that?"

"Why Mr Parker I'm flattered." Betty replied. "We both know why I called. Mr Jameson has an appointment with Tony Stark and he wants you to come in and help me run the place until Mr Robertson starts his shift."

"Well sure Betty." Peter smiled to himself. "I'll be right in. I guess J.J.J just wants the publicity. You know how needy he gets."

"Well actually, I was hoping we could talk about out date tomorrow." Betty relied as she sounded shy. "It's been hard for me to say this as I care about you, but I'm interested in you. You're such a nice guy and I think we should get to know each other more personally."

Peter's heart raced into overdrive. This phone call was for real so real that he was left speechless for a few seconds. As he finally regained his courage and words, he finally replied;

"I'll be right over."

Putting the phone down, he grabbed his jacket and raced down the stir well. He told Aunt May where he was going as he displayed a smile on his face. As he changed into Spider-Man and swung across the street, only one thought crossed his mind.

"_Betty likes me, Betty likes me, Betty likes me, Betty likes me!" _He thought out loud as he swung into the night. _"I think this is it. I better not have bad breath. Oh Parker what the hell are you thinking!"_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Later that evening, Tony Stark decided to hold a personal meeting with J. Jonah Jameson in his tower building. His intention was to persuade the grumpy newspaper editor to provide his company with the publicity that he wanted. He sat there in the luxury of his office when his secretary called through. Jameson entered the room and instantly took a seat at the desk. The look on his face was not a new one. He had a reputation of being stingy with money and had planned to be out of there within the next few days. After being poured a drink by the billionaire, Jameson stated his terms loud and clear.

"Now just so we're clear, Stark. There is no way you will be receiving free publicity from the Daily Bugle!" he moaned. "It comes at a price these days! I've had shoddy business men come to me before with this sort of thing and I won't stand for it."

"What makes you think I'm after free publicity?" Stark replied calmly as he stopped Jameson mid-rant. "Look Mister Jameson, I know how dedicated you and your employees are into running the Bugle. I can tell you now that I am happy to help you with the money to keep the place running, so I thought we should set up a little deal. See the newly developed Stark Corporation needs publicity from the media so it can promote it merchandise to both civilian and uniformed people, recruit staff and even put its name on the map. Plus I do have the technology right here in this building that could change the safety of this city. How are people going to recognise that without the help of the media?"

"Why do you want the Bugle?" Jameson asked suspiciously. "There are four other newspaper offices throughout the city and they're all a bunch of bum lickers! I don't think like them!"

"They are also not respected citizens of New York City." Stark pointed out. "You see Jameson, unlike them; you are a patriot, the god of media. You're the guy to turn to."

"A patriot!" Jameson grinned as he rubbed his chin. "I like the sound of that. Okay then Stark you got yourself a deal. I'll provide you the publicity you need but in return, I need at least two-thousand dollars to keep the Bugle running a monthly rate."

"It's a deal, Jameson." Stark replied as he shook Jameson's hand and directed him to the door. "I think from now on, we're going to be good friends."

High above the city, Spider-Man had perched himself on one of the many flagpoles that decorated the city. The day started off better than he could've hoped it to be as he was geared up for his date with Betty later that night. Firing weblines, he zipped and swung from building to building in a playful manor. As he reached the corner of Sixth Street, his spider-sense began to alert him of nearby danger. A shop down below had just been robbed of its goods as two masked men; both wielding guns ran out into the street.

"_A robbery at this time of the morning? Please!" _he thought as he made his move on the suspects. _"Most robbers would at lead be having their breakfast booze right about now. Then again, New York is known for its dumb masked crazies. No puns intended at me of course."_

Swooping down, he applied a shattering kick, forcing one of the men to the floor. The second man quickly reacted and went for his gun, but it was immediately blocked and snatched away by Spidey's webbing.

"It's always the same thing with you clowns!" Spider-Man mocked as he webbed the pair of thugs. "You rob stores, shoot guns, yell SPIDER-MAN OH MY GOD and then put up the wimpiest fight I have ever seen. You guys are so boring to us friendly neighbourhood spider-men."

Just as the police arrived, Spider-Man took off into the fresh morning sky. His destination was the Bugle once more to see if Betty was still up for their date later on. It was certainly a less hard day on him than the day before. He had taken Aunt May's words into consideration. He was finally over Mary Jane. Scaling one of the tower blocks, his mind wondered off into thought as he found the best view of Manhattan. The wind was cool on his skin, but he didn't feel anything.

"_So far this morning's been showing the signs of good luck." _He thought. _"I know it feels heartless to abandon every feeling that I have left for Mary Jane, but I can't let them hold me back. I can't afford to keep juggling my emotions around like a clown on a uni-cycle. Maybe I should go somewhere seeing as it's my day off and all."_

Suddenly, he spotted a familiar looking figure drift across the sky at an incredible speed. It was heading towards the Stark tower were the labs were and to Spider-Man it had become too apparent.

"_Hello, Hello. Looks like Stark has attracted the attention of one interested little Gobby. I guess I better pay him a visit."_

Firing a long webline, Spider-Man took off at full speed and landed on the Goblins back, surprising the villain with shock. The Goblin swerved and did air acrobatics in order to shake the wall crawler off but it was no use, the web head had wrapped his arms around his neck.

"Where are you off too Gobbelkins!" he mocked as the Goblin growled and bared his teeth. "Don't tell me you have a crush on stuck-up business men do you?"

"You're in my way, you menacing parasite!" The Goblin sneered as he grabbed Spider-Man and threw him through the air. "Stark has something that I need and I'm going to get it no matter what it takes!"

"Wow so dedicated." Spider-Man retorted as he shot web at the glider, trying to disable the engines. "But I'm afraid that I'm going to be a right pain in the backside and stop you. I like doing that."

"Then I shall have to destroy you like the pestering insect that you are!" the Goblin threatened.

"Erm. I'm an arachnid, genius!" Spider-Man laughed as he back flipped onto a nearby roof top. "A spider that has the guts to take down a giant booger on a glider."

Suddenly, the Goblin dived downwards and opened up a barrage of machinegun fire which sliced up the roof top below. Using his spider-sense, the webslinger dived and barrelled to avoid the ricocheting bullets. He flipped over the side of the room and clung onto the side of the wall to catch his breath. As the Goblin passed over him, he fired another webline and zipped up towards the Goblin, performing an Arial kick to the head. The Goblin screamed as he began to spiral out of control and down towards the crowded streets below. Knowing what the result could be, Spider-Man fell into a free fall and dived down to catch the goblin.

"_I can't let this whack job hurt those people down there." _He thought to himself. "_I'll get the rap for this for sure. All I'll need to do is web his primary stabilizer."_

He shot and accurate webline and to his luck, it hit the stabilizer dead on. He then fired another webline to the building behind him, which hit a flagpole. As he swung there, he felt his muscles ache and contract as he swung the Goblin back and forth on his glider. He was just inches from the street, but the Goblin used the predicament to his advantage. He pulled out a pumpkin bomb from his satchel and threw it upwards, exploding in mid air. A plume of green toxic gas erupted from the explosion which drifted into Spider-Man's line of vision. His senses began to go hazy and his limbs began to tremble on the wall. Then before he knew it, he was plummeting downwards like a torpedo. The Goblin laughed hard as he ripped off the webline and flew off into the distance.

"Never mind Spider-Man!" he grinned. "You tried and you failed. Now Tony Stark, you better have that weapon ready for me. HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Spider-Man's time had run out. Just as he regained his senses, he hit a canvas roof and slammed into the pavement. A crowd gathered around him as the sound of sirens grew louder and louder.

"_Uh-oh, here comes the cops."_ He thought as he leaped up onto his feet._"I best get out of here. My head still feels woozy, but I can manage."_

He swung off into the city after Goblin. He was hot his trail as his Spider-Sense guided him through the city like a GPS navigation system. He was being led straight towards the entrance of the Stark tower, where security was at maximum level. The entrance was guarded with two security posts which were constantly manned. To the Goblin, breaking through the system would be easy.

He headed onwards and fired two rockets at the posts, destroying them upon impact. To avoid the gunfire from the guards, he hot upwards towards the roof where believed he could get away. However, once he reached the roof, he was met with another wave of guards who were heavily armoured. The Goblin hovered there and smiled as he unleaded a barrage of gun fire which flattened the guards in no time at all. Stark obviously knew that he was coming.

"Is that's all you got, Stark!" he laughed hardly as he made his next move.

He fired a chemical rocket, which destroyed an air vent below, making an entrance. The vent led straight down into one of the labs which housed the weapon. It was a tight squeeze but at low power, he could manoeuvre himself down into the building. He emerged from the ceiling and ended up in a corridor on the fortieth floor. Ahead of the corridor what the lab, but the door was locked by an encrypted code.

"I don't need codes to get in!" the Goblin sneered as he threw another pumpkin bomb and blew the door inwards.

He glided in and examined the high-tech lab closely. It was swamped with sophisticated computers and gadgets which appeared to power up the floor. The Goblin was impressed by it all but it was nothing compared to what he had come for. The weapon sat at the end of room, its metal shone brightly in the artificial light. The Goblin picked it up to examine it closer but he was caught off guard when a familiar strand of webbing had snagged his hand. He looked back to see the perusing Spider-Man who had clung onto the ceiling above him.

"You again!" he growled. "I thought I finished you!"

"You can't finish off us Spider-Men very easily." Spider-Man replied as he dived down and knocked the weapon out of the Goblin's hand. "As for you Gobby, it's time to give you a lesson in shop lifting. This is not Toys 'R' Us you know."

"Very funny." The Goblin replied as he countered Spider-Man's line of attacks. "But it is useless to stop me now. The weapon is in my control and I will use it to eradicate my first target. You!"

"Aww that's so touching. You really know how to touch a spider's heart." Spider-Man quipped, knocking the Goblin off of the glider. "You should go into poetry."

"I've had enough of you already!" The Goblin cried as he reached for the weapon and fired a burst of bright, electrical energy.

The blast propelled the wall crawler into the wall, causing him to leave an indentation in the metal.

"_My back!"_ he squealed as his back throbbed in a sharp pain. _"He nearly broke my spine with that thing. If he hits me again, he could finish me."_

Regaining his balance, Spider-Man lunged towards the Goblin, firing web balls at his face. He was successful in temporarily blinding his opponent, but had to time his moves accurately. He applied several kicks and jabs to the face and chest, leaving the Goblin stunned. The Goblin the fell to his knees, his groggy mind clouding his vision. Spider-Man believed it was over. He was wrong.

As he approached the Goblin, his spider-sense tingled as he was caught off guard by a few small flash grenades that the Goblin had placed in front of him. The bright flash knocked him off balance, forcing him to the floor. His ears rang like alarm bells and multiple why flashes appeared in his darkened vision. He became confused, startled and angry all in one reaction. As the effects wore off in the passing minutes, his sight began to return to him. He rubbed his eyes and staggered to his feet as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. It was then that he realised what he was dealing with. The Goblin and the weapon was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

He had managed to escape the lab, but the wall crawlers troubles were far from over. As he stepped out into the corridor, he was caught off guard by the sharp piercing sirens that enveloped the corridor in a blinking red light. Security was on their way and Spider-Man knew that he had to get out before he could be accused as the culprit. Firing a webline, he zipped upwards and crawled through the narrow air vent above him. As he silently crawled along the dark, narrow tunnels he came across a vent grate and peered down to see the security guards rush to the scene.

"_I did say that this place was jinxed since Stark chewed on his words." _He thought as he continued to scale the narrow shafts. "_Now I've got to find a Goblin who has Starks pride and joy with him and I don't mean the Iron Man suit."_

Several minutes ticked by as he emerged on the roof top. He made it hard to make out the city as the cold wind battered his face, but he quickly identified a suspicious glow that cut through the air ahead of him.

"_There's that green whack job." _He established as he shot web lines and swung off into the vicinity of the glow. _"By the looks of it, he's heading to city hall, but why? There isn't any major public events that are going on down there tonight are there?"_

As each second brought him closet to the Goblin, Spider-Man realised what was going on. There was a reason after all.

"_Damn! I just remembered. Stark is going to open his new business in front of city hall tonight! You know, I know I hate Jameson, but it would help in future if I actually listened to the man!"_

City Hall was only miles away and with a big crowd brewing down on the streets below, He knew that the Goblin was going to put so many lives at stake. Swinging wasn't moving him fast enough so he resulted to web zipping.

Up ahead, The Green Goblin was closing in on his target. City Hall was brightly lit, exposing its bright white structure which stood out amongst the rest of the city. He didn't care how many people were there, he was just focusing on one man. Tony Stark. The Goblin hated Stark as opposed to Norman Osborn because of an event that took place years ago between him and Stark's alter ego. Iron Man. He remembered the event as if it was yesterday, causing it to brew inside his mind, raging within him like a wild beast. Iron Man had nearly finished him and he was going to make sure that he wasn't going to do it again. He had taken the weapon for its one valuable resource. It's radiation neutralizer. The Goblin knew about Stark's artificial component that protected his heart and he knew that if he could destroy it, then Stark would die instantly. What he was unaware of was that Spider-Man was close behind him.

Just meters above him, Spider-Man lunged forward off his web line and dived onto the Goblins back. The Goblin squealed as the webbed wonder wrapped his arms tightly around his neck.

"Time to make a little crash landing." He said as he effortlessly clung onto to the Goblins neck. "Airport '77 style."

"What are you doing you fool!" The Goblin cried as he span out of control. "You can't stop me now! Tony Stark must die!"

"Look I know you hate him like I do, but I think killing him is a bit extreme don't you?" Spider-Man quipped. "Besides there are gun laws in the city and you are on the black list my friend!"

Just he reached for the gun; Spider-Man was thrown off balance by the Goblin, who gave him a direct punch to the jaw. He fell towards the street but he was lucky enough to break it by swinging out of the dive. Landing on the side of a building, he fired a barrage of web balls which missed the Goblin completely. Then sound of his opponents menacing laugh really shook his bones.

"Well that didn't work." He said as he leaped upwards. "But laugh all you want Goblin, I'm going to ground you sooner than you think."

He used all of his spider strength to perform the leap but it soon paid off as he grabbed the bottom of the glider and used his momentum to make the Goblin lose balance. As he picked up speed in his swinging, The Goblin began to lose control yet again.

"What the hell are you doing!" he growled as he began to lose all control of his glider. "We're going to head straight for the Hall!"

"You mean you are." Spider-Man replied as he webbed the gun out of the Goblins hand and leaped to a safe distance.

Firing another webline, he snagged the base of the glider and ripped out the stabilizer gear. He then watched as the Goblin careened out of control, his glider spitting sparks and black smoke.

"_I sure hope everyone can clear the area in time?" _he thought as he perched onto a flag pole. _"It's too late for me to warn them now."_

Down on the street below, all was going fine until the press began to kick up a fuss over a noise that they were hearing. Stark looked up to see the silhouette of the Goblin bearing down on him accompanied by the sound of his cowardly cries. There was no way he was going to pull out of the dive so Stark had only seconds left to get everyone clear. Fortunately, the public took matters into their own hands and had already fled the scene. Stark dived off the stage and hit the street with a thud just as the Goblin hit the building.

A mighty explosion rocked the area as a huge fireball erupted from the impact zone. Everyone in the area survived but there were a few minor casualties. The emergency services arrived in to time and the blaze was soon brought under control. As for Stark, he was dazed and shocked but he was unharmed. Brushing off his suit, he turned to his limo and noticed a familiar wall crawler who was perched on the top of his car.

"What the hell just happened?" he said un-phased at Spider-Man's appearance. "This was supposed to be the best night of my life!"

"And it still can be." Spider-Man replied in his usual manner. "It's just you got a free fireworks display with it. Oh and the guy who so kindly decided to crash into City Hall was The Green Goblin."

"The Green Goblin?" Stark said, still in his dazed state of mind. "What? Why?"

"Because he wanted this do-hickey of yours and decided to try and kill you with it." Spider-Man explained as he handed the weapon to Stark. "That's the thing with you tech nuts. You create these wonderful things but in the end, they end up in the hands of psychos who end up trying to kill you with them. Mind you, you did bring this on yourself."

"How do you mean?" Stark asked as he returned to his natural state. "I didn't do anything. You know that."

"Oh but you did. You said that everything was going to be alright and that the city was going to be safer." Spider-Man continued. "Saying that is a recipe for destruction. Don't ever say that to a huge crowd because some nut jobs out there will see it as a challenge."

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm responsible for all that has happened here?" Stark growled in disbelief. "Haven't you seen the sort of day that I've been having?"

"Yeah I can imagine but now you know when to quit and I better get out of here." Spider-Man replied as began to flee the scene. "Oh and by the way, I'm not paying for all this."

Spider-Man swung off into the city as Stark was left to deal with the approaching police officers. In the hours that followed, the Goblin was recovered in an unconscious state but he was alive. The fires to city hall had been brought under control and the total costs in damage had been tallied up leaving the city to pay over Two Hundred Thousand Dollars in repairs. A press conference formed outside, but J. Jonah Jameson was adamant that he could get the story to take a twist and make Spider-Man the suspect. As the press gathered outside, the Mayor stepped behind the Microphones and addressed his announcement to the cameras.

"After a catastrophic event that occurred earlier this evening here at City Hall, it has become apparent that an attempt to assassinate Tony Stark had been made only to be foiled by Spider-Man who was apparently present at the time. After the initial impact, nobody was hurt but Police had soon recovered a body which was quickly identified to be the Green Goblin. Information on the Goblins condition or motive is unknown but the result of this has left us paying a total sum of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars to repair the City Hall. Of course, we have learnt a lesson from this."

"What do you mean that you've learnt a lesson?" Jameson spoke out. "Who are you trying to kid us Mr Mayor? I know full well that it was Spider-Man's intention to destroy the building!"

"Mr Jameson, as always you've got the facts wrong." The Mayor replied. "Infact it was Spider-Man that taught us that addressing our achievements will spark our failures, challenging the madmen who want to destroy lives. Jameson, Spider-Man is a hero."

"I don't believe this." Jameson growled as he rubbed his face in disbelief. "I just don't believe this!"

Meanwhile, Peter had arrived home just in time for his date with Betty. As he changed into his smart street cloths, he heard the front door ring which boosted his adrenaline levels. Aunt May opened the door and two muffled voices were heard in the living room. Tucking his costume under his bed, he slide down the banisters and entered the living room. His jaw dropped as he saw how radiant Betty looked.

"Y-you look beautiful." He said, dropping his words. "Aunt May don't wait up. I'll be escorting Betty home after dinner."

"Okay dear boy." May chuckled. "Have a nice evening you two."

Linking arms, the two walked into town where the finest restaurants were lit up nicely. Peter's heart thumped as Betty snuggled up to him. He could see that she was in deep thought and the look on her face said it all. There was chemistry brewing between them.

"I do hope this is the start of something?" She said. "It's beautiful tonight."

"You never know, Betty." Peter replied. "This might be the start of something special after all. _"This is amazing. I kick the Goblins ass, conveyed a smart message and scored a date with the most beautiful girl at the Bugle. Yep. Things are going to look up for the Crusading Spider-Man from now on."_

The End.


End file.
